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Could poop be the secret of eternal youth?
When you think about the fountain of youth, the first thing that comes to your mind probably isn’t poop. And why would it be?
After all, what happens in the bathroom should stay in the bathroom, right?
But what if I told you that scientists now think that fecal material might actually be the key to eternal youth, able to halt age-related decline and even preserve healthy cognitive function throughout life?
Ponce de León is probably rolling over in his grave right now.
It sounds crazy but more and more research is pointing to the gut as the fountain of youth…
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The gut-brain axis
The reason lies in the existence of a two-way communication network known as “the gut-brain axis,” which has only been discovered in the past few years. Put simply, this communication network allows your gut microbiome to affect what happens in, as well as the health of, your brain.
Research has also concluded that your body’s entire aging process may be linked to age-related changes in your gut microbiome for this very reason.
And because of this, studies are now focusing on how manipulating or altering gut microbiota may play a role in either improving or maintaining health (or better yet, both).
Why fecal transplants?
Since a healthy gut microbiome might be the key to health, scientists have been playing with the idea of how to take the good stuff from one person and put it into another.
And looking for proof that it would work.
That’s exactly what led researchers at the University of East Anglia, the University of Florence and the Quadram Institute to see if they could get closer to that proof by approaching that issue from a negative standpoint.
Basically, they wanted to see what would happen when they transplanted the gut microbiome of old mice, by route of fecal transplant, into young, healthy mice.
Yup, gross. But you know what? They got the proof they were looking for…
After the poo transplant, the younger mice began to behave like older mice in terms of their cognitive function.
In fact, the researchers found that transferring gut microbes affected parts of the central nervous system associated with aging and resulted in impaired spatial learning and memory. The unhealthy gut bacteria even caused problems with emotional behavior and mood.
As Professor Claudio Nicoletti, from the University of Florence, put it, “This work highlights the importance of the gut-brain axis in aging and provides a strong rationale to devise therapies aiming to restore a young-like microbiota to improve cognitive functions and quality of life in the elderly,” he added.
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Got poo?
So are you ready for a fecal transplant?
Yeah, I’m not sure I’m signing up yet either. But boy do I want the results since as they said, a younger microbiota goes hand-in-hand with improved cognitive function and quality of life (which might be as close as we’ll ever get to the fountain of youth).
That’s why although I’m not running to my doctor to have a younger person’s poop inserted where the sun don’t shine (as my grandmother always said), I am focusing on ways to keep my own microbiome as healthy and as young as possible.
And luckily, that’s not hard.
In fact, it’s as easy as getting enough probiotics in your diet, since tons of research has already shown that good bacteria are essential to a healthy, balanced microbiome.
The way I’m doing it is to eat plenty of probiotic-rich foods, like:
- Yogurt
- Kefir
- Sauerkraut
- Tempeh
- Miso
Remember to feed your gut bacteria with prebiotic fiber, like from inulin, flaxseed.
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Sources:
Could a poo transplant one day be the secret of eternal youth? — EurekAlert!
By Virginia Tims-Lawson
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